Tom Pollard
Head of Social Policy at NEF | Previously at Mind & DWP | Particular focus on mental health, poverty & social security | NHS Mental Health Social Worker
- Really important work, highlighting how poorly served low-income households are by childcare & early education. The current funded hours model with its focus on working families is failing to adequately address inequalities in levels of access & quality of provision. A fundamental rethink is needed
- 🔥📖 out today, shares firsthand accounts of how the childcare system is failing parents on a low-income and sets out co-produced recommendations for how it could be improved 🔥📖 changingrealities.org/writings/it-... [Please read & share this short 🧵]
- Great to see @andyburnham.bsky.social addressing a packed Friends' Meeting House of Greater Manchester residents, giving his backing to the campaign for a Living Income pilot in the city region
- New DWP research gives a clearer picture of why PIP claims have been rising than government & media rhetoric about the need for cuts People with complex poor health, driven in part by financial hardship to seek additional support to meet their basic costs www.gov.uk/government/p...
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- Analysis from both @neweconomics.bsky.social & @jrf-uk.bsky.social shows that the government's original 250k figure for those pushed into poverty is an understatement & should be around 350k Combined with these new figures, that's over 1m people pushed newly or deeper into poverty due to these cuts
- NEW: Internal DWP figures show 700,000 families *already* in poverty are forecast to be hit by planned disability benefit cuts That's on top of the 250k+ who are predicted to be newly pushed into poverty by the changes By me, for the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
- Worth watching back today's Work & Pensions Committee sessions on government plans for cuts to disability benefits Great contributions from @jamestaylor2.bsky.social @ellenclifford.bsky.social @benjaminbarr.bsky.social & @lucyfoulkes.bsky.social among others committees.parliament.uk/event/24100/...
- Great thread from Max on new @neweconomics.bsky.social analysis showing that rising PIP claims are being driven by higher rates of disability combined with increasing financial hardship, with no indication that it's getting easier to claim People in real need of support will lose out from cuts
- 🚨 NEW: ahead of today's debate on the changes to disability benefits, we've been digging into the claim that the rise in claims is disproportionate to the level of need. Here’s what @pollardtom.bsky.social and I found 👇 www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
- New @neweconomics.bsky.social analysis challenges the government narrative that the rise in PIP claims is disproportionate We show that financial insecurity is driving a greater proportion of a growing population of disabled people to legitimately seek support www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
- I think the political damage of the Winter Fuel Allowance cut is probably locked in now, even if steps are taken to mitigate it But the political & human damage that will be caused by almost £7bn of cuts to benefits for ill & disabled people can still be avoided www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
- The mindset, assumptions & modelling that has guided successive governments systematically underestimates both the knock-on costs of cutting social security & the economic benefits of reducing poverty Important work from @trusselluk.bsky.social to quantify these www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
- I spoke to Chris Smyth for this Times piece on the rising numbers of people claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for anxiety & depression (link to the article at the end of this thread) Here are the five key things we need to consider to understand this trend... 🧵
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- As well as cutting health & disability benefits, the government plans to introduce conditionality for many people currently exempt from it I explained to the Work & Pensions Select Committee yesterday that NEF's work shows this won't be an effective way to engage this group with employment support
- Good to have the opportunity today to raise concerns with the Work & Pensions Select Committee about the impact of cuts & changes to benefits for ill & disabled people Chasing short-term savings will not lead to sustainable reductions in needs or costs, or positive outcomes for this group
- "The cap is popular with key voters" I just don't believe that a Labour government scrapping the two-child limit would directly & significantly shift voting behaviour at the next election But a Labour government presiding over rising child poverty would www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
- I'll be giving evidence to the Work & Pensions Select Committee at 4pm today on the government's planned cuts & changes to disability & health-related benefits, along with other witnesses from think tanks & academia Full details & a link to watch here: committees.parliament.uk/event/23969/...
- Good @hannahdevlin.bsky.social piece teasing apart different issues & perspectives below the surface of simplistic headline claims of mental health 'overdiagnosis' Very few people with a serious stake in this debate suggesting benefit cuts will help anything www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
- "If you really want to help people, if you really want to save money & get more people into work, I think you have to come at it a completely different way" Welcome intervention from @andyburnham.bsky.social - benefit cuts are not a shortcut to sustainable savings inews.co.uk/news/andy-bu...
- There was rightly concern last week when OBR & DWP documents revealed that £4.8bn of cuts to benefits for ill & disabled people would push 250k people into poverty, including 50k children But @neweconomics.bsky.social analysis suggests the true scale & impact of these cuts will be even greater... 🧵
- Digging below the surface of the government's impact assessment, it looks like benefit cuts will push around 70k additional children into poverty by the end of this parliament, on top of existing upward trends The upcoming child poverty strategy has A LOT of heavy lifting to do
- Vital @johnharris1969.bsky.social piece on the SEND crisis: how we got here, what it's like to try to secure support, & the toxic intersection of crumbling & adversarial local systems & a national culture wars narrative that blames parents & 'overdiagnosis' www.newstatesman.com/politics/edu...
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- Good to talk to @alb-toth.bsky.social for this piece. Cutting ill & disabled people's incomes doesn't make them more able to return to work, but OBR/HMT orthodoxy & risk aversion means only crude & blunt cuts are being 'scored' as likely savings for DWP www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
- Reposted by Tom Pollard🧵We learned today that a record 4.5 million children faced poverty this year, but we also learned that policy change can make a difference. changingrealities.org/writings/cut... New analysis with @cpaguk.bsky.social for @nuffieldfoundation.org
- A phantom policy from the previous government is distorting the spreadsheets on the scale & impact of benefit cuts for ill & disabled people In the real world, we're looking at £6.8bn of cuts to benefits for this group & around 350k people pushed into poverty - here's why... 🧵
- Reposted by Tom Pollard🧵 1. The new official poverty stats came out at 930 Astonishingly bad numbers confirm the UK is in the grip of a building crisis of penury www.gov.uk/government/s...
- The OBR has not yet been able to forecast any employment gain from the cuts/changes to incapacity & disability benefits MPs are being asked to support around £6.5bn of cuts & increased conditionality for ill & disabled people without any clear assessment of what it will achieve
- Beyond the chaos around these OBR projections, the bigger problem is designing cuts to achieve pre-determined savings. Cautious OBR projections will push government towards blunter cuts (e.g. just cutting rates for all) & away from longer-term more systemic reforms www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
